Schools and colleges of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus are again ranked among the best in the country on the 2023-2024 U.S. News & World Report annual ranking of higher education programs.
The University of Colorado School of Medicine is No. 8 for primary care and No. 26 for research, according to the latest Best Medical School rankings released today by U.S. News & World Report. This is the sixth time in the past eight years that the CU School of Medicine has ranked in the top 10 for primary care.
U.S. News compiles listings of medical schools in two categories — primary care and research — based on surveys and data reviews of accredited medical schools in the United States. Using the survey responses and data, the magazine then assigns rankings.
The magazine also provides rankings of specific specialties based on ratings provided by medical school deans and senior faculty from surveyed schools. This year, family medicine ranked No. 7 and pediatrics ranked No. 8. The CU School of Medicine Physician Assistant Program is also ranked No. 8 among health programs.
“The School of Medicine is focused on providing excellent training, research, and clinical care, and we will continue to focus our efforts on meeting the needs of our students, communities, and patients and their families,” says Dean John J. Reilly Jr., MD. “Our faculty and staff have a commitment to service that is a source of strength for our state and for the University of Colorado.”
For its Best Medical School rankings, U.S. News surveyed 192 medical and osteopathic schools accredited in 2022 by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the American Osteopathic Association. This data, along with the results from peer assessment surveys, were used to calculate the overall rankings and eight medical field specialty rankings and populate each medical school’s profile in the U.S. News directory.
In addition, U.S. News also examines data related to diversity and measuring the number of graduates practicing in rural areas and in health professional shortage areas.
The CU School of Medicine ranked No. 66 in the country in terms of the percentage of students from underrepresented minorities enrolled in 2022 and ranked No. 39 based on the percentage of its 2014–16 graduates practicing in rural areas, with 7.54%. On the measure of graduates in health professional shortage areas, CU ranked No. 103, with 18.65% of 2014–16 graduates in such areas.
U.S. News and World Report has named the Colorado School of Public Health among the top 20 schools and programs of public health in the nation in its 2023-2024 rankings. ColoradoSPH is now ranked 17th out of 206 Master of Public Health (MPH) programs accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH).
ColoradoSPH moved up two spaces in the last year, when all schools and programs of public health were last ranked in 2022. The public health rankings are based on information about the schools including peer assessment surveys sent to deans, other administrators, or faculty of CEPH-accredited public health degree programs or schools.
“This ranking reflects our growing recognition as one of the best schools in the nation—and the leading school in the Rocky Mountain region—where students can pursue a quality public health education,” said ColoradoSPH Dean Jonathan Samet, MD, MS. “I am proud of the role that the Colorado School of Public Health played with many partners during the COVID-19 pandemic during my time as dean, and of all the work our school is doing in multiple areas of public health regionally, nationally, and worldwide.”
New this year, U.S. News also released its very first rankings of the five “specialty” areas (or core competency areas) that all MPH graduates must demonstrate to earn their degrees and for a school to be accredited: biostatistics, epidemiology, social and behavioral sciences, environmental health sciences, and health policy and management. The Colorado School of Public Health was included in the top 20 for each specialty area.
“Our students and community partners continuously challenge us to go off-trail and push the boundaries of system-level and policy-level health solutions,” said Glen Mays, PhD, MPH, professor and chair of the Department of Health Systems, Management and Policy. “It is gratifying to see our work receive this national recognition.”
In addition to the specialty area ranking in biostatistics, ColoradoSPH’s Biostatistics PhD program was last ranked in 2022 as 26th in the nation out of 65 graduate schools and PhD programs in biostatistics.
The University of Colorado College of Nursing’s master’s in nursing program was ranked 28th best among 184 total programs. Additionally, the College ranked 33rd in Doctor of Nursing Practice programs out of 169 schools and 10th for its Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Doctor of Nursing Practice degree program.
Additionally, earlier this year, CU Nursing at Anschutz, was ranked as the 10th best online Master’s degree program out of more than 200 programs. It also named the College of Nursing’s MSN administration and leadership program, called i-LEAD as 11th best online leadership program.
“This is such exciting news. To move up from #35 last year to #33 for our DNP program and to remain as a top 30 MS program is a testament to the excellence in our curriculum and faculty,” says Dean Elias Provencio-Vasquez, PhD, FAAN.
The publication surveyed 648 nursing schools with master’s or doctoral programs accredited by either the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing or the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. In total, 296 nursing programs responded to the statistical data collection survey. The graduate methodologies used for the advanced degree programs are distinct from the methodologies U.S. News used to evaluate the online master’s in nursing programs.
List of rankings for 2024:
School of Medicine
College of Nursing
School of Public Health